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veritabile · Dec 11, 2008, 10:56 AM

I have a Craftsman Chipper Vacuum that has performed super for me over the past 13 years but the differential housing got chewed apart when one of the wheel got a flat or underinflated and I didn';t notice. I have bought a new LH part and flange that were chewed up but I need to disassemble or separate the RH from the LH. Based on the manual it is sealed with Loctite 5699. I have not been able to find anything on the internet to advise on how I can neutralize or separate the two halves.

Is it possible to separate the two halves and if so, how. Much appreciate any help. Jay

ballengerb1 · Dec 11, 2008, 09:27 PM

I hope you have more luck that I did. I only tried to fix two of these and Loctite beat me both times. Before I could spread the housing it cracked both times before that darn Loctite would stop doing its job. Try calling a Sears repair facility and ask one of their guys if they have some trick you and I don't know. Let me know if they do!

veritabile · Dec 12, 2008, 08:50 AM

Thanks, Ballenger, for the reply. Actually, I solved my problem shortly after the posting.

Asking the question and posting it helped me think through the issue some more. In my web surfing of instructions for similar repairs, I read about knocking the two halves of a housing apart. So I took a closer look at the housing and I noticed that the four bolts that held the sprocket to the housing went through the LH to the RH side and it occurred to me that the bolts were probably holding the sprockete to the housing but also were holding the housing together and the Loctite 5699 silicone was just a gasket and not a cement-like sealant that I had assumed. So, with that insight, I put the housing in a vise with a piece of wood cushion on the contact points holding the LH and inserted small piece of wood through the damaged opening of the LH and against the opposite inside "wall/gear" on the RH side and gave a couple of gentle taps. After a couple of attempts including the housing slipping out of the vise since I didn't want to secure it too tightly although I wasn;t too worried since I was going to replace the damaged, chewed out LH side---voila--it nicely separated.

Thanks again for the suggestion, though. This is a great site. Jay

gdpruitt · Dec 20, 2008, 09:52 AM

I have the same problem and have been unable to locate the part. Where were you able to locate the housing??